Undecided/Business - Penn State [$56k] vs Purdue [$43k] vs Rutgers [$37k] vs Northeastern [$96k, NU.in] [parent contribution <$50k]

Compare College Acceptances
, , , ,
1

Just for background. I am a NJ resident, and I am interested in business, engineering, and entrepreneurship (leaning more heavily towards business analytics, quantitive economics, or anything really math + business).

My preferences:
—> Close to skiing or has a strong ski club
—> I would rather go to a more academically focused school than a party school (work hard play hard is good too).
—> I would prefer a safe campus.
—> I want a school with strong entrepreneurship programs/extracirculars.
—> Good internship opportunities & high job placement.

Penn State - Division of Undergraduate Studies
—> 56k a year
—> 4 hour drive, which is a good distance for me!
—> Got into main campus
—> Con: Big party school

Purdue - Exploratory Studies (undecided)
—> 43k a year (not including flights, long car rides, and shipping fees)
—> Main campus
—> Far - 2 hour flight or a 10 hour drive (which is a doable for me but I would prefer to stay closer)
—> STEM-based business school. I am really interested in a lot fo their majors (quant business economics, business analytics)
—> Great exploratory studies program!
—> Good academic advising.
—> High internship placement rate.
—> High job satisfaction rate.

Rutgers - Business school, Engineering school, School of Arts and Sciences
—> 37k a year
—> New Brunswick campus (main campus)
—> Would have to choose a college immediately (con).
—> I don’t like the spread out campus or the bus system.
—> “13th grade” - I would be interacting with the same people from high school (con).
—> It’s close to home (pro).
—> Academic advising is absolutely terrible. Its hard to get the classes you want.
—> Big party school (con).
—> Would probably be off my list if it wasn’t cheaper than Penn State/Purdue.

Northeastern - Exploratory studies (undecided), NU.in
—> 96k a year
—> I don’t want to go abroad my first semester, I would rather get used to campus first, then go abroad. All the other schools I am looking at have good study abroad programs.
—> Co-op program is great!
—> This school is lowk already off the list because the cost is not worth it. I can get internships and do study abroad at any of the other schools for half the price.

Thank you!

2 Likes
2

How much can you and your parents afford without borrowing?

3

Also, investigate how difficult it is to enter the business major at schools where you are not directly admitted to the business major.

2 Likes
4

Purdue it is nearly guaranteed. Penn State & Northeastern I would just need to make sure to keep my GPA up.

5

My parents said that they will most likely be able to pay for most of the cheaper schools costs (like under 50k a year), but for Northeastern I would be paying a lot, which I don’t want to do.

6

So that means that Rutgers at $37k and Purdue at $43k are within the parental budget, but Penn State at $56k is a stretch with $50k from parents and some from your student loans work and/or part time work earnings, and Northeastern is completely unrealistic financially.

I would recommend looking most closely at Rutgers and Purdue in order to avoid being stretched to the limit with Penn State (being stretched to the limit means that a minor financial setback can force you to drop out of school).

2 Likes
7

The 50k is more of an estimate than a hard line. I think that Purdue will also come out similarly with flights, shipping cost, etc too, so I would say Penn State shouldn’t be completely out (just on the basis of cost alone)

8

Rutgers won’t be HS 2.0. Too many kids. I’m guessing all 50 states and many foreign countries are represented. You choose your classes and friends. Knowing a familiar face isn’t the worst thing.

You can find parties at any school…or not.

Most large public schools have issues with class schedules and getting classes you need or want.

You have some good options. Good luck.

1 Like
9

Right off the bat, I’d eliminate NUin. The cost and fact that you’d be out of the country the first semester does not appear to make sense for you.

Then you have Penn State which seems a bit more expensive than what you would comfortably be able to afford. That’s $13-19K more a year ($52-76K for four years). That’s a chunk of change. If you happen to go 5 years, you’re looking at a whole year’s tuition. It also doesn’t sound like you’re very interested in the school, nothing you list says anything great about the fit the school has for you. I’d probably cross that out.

Then this leaves Rutgers and Purdue. If you are not overly concerned about getting admitted into the business program, which school appeals to you more? What program seems to have a better fit for you? Have you visited the Purdue campus?

From what you write it seems that Purdue is your school. The fit, culture, and program seems to attract you more than 13-16th grade at Rutgers with not as good advising, difficulty in getting classes, and is a party culture that you don’t desire.

Purdue seems to check all the boxes, price, culture, program, and internship. The only concern you list is distance. If your family can afford an occasional flight, 2-4x a year, a two hour flight for most people is very doable and rather short. A 10 hour drive is not as easy, but is definitely reasonable when broken up into a two day 5 hour drive. Being 4 hours away driving (Penn State) is really the same as being a two hour flight away at Purdue. Not much difference except maybe it will be $200-400/round trip.

My son attended college 1000 miles away from us. He enjoyed the fact he was away from home but not too far away. He would fly home during the breaks, but not on Thanksgiving. We drove up once to bring him a car and drove back home after graduation. He actually misses the city he was at.

One question would be on weekends, is the school at all a commuter type school? In other words, do people go home weekends? If so, be prepared for this at any school. There may be some weekends when you will be doing a lot of studying! But that could be Penn State or Purdue.

To me and maybe to you, Purdue sounds the way to go.

2 Likes
10

That description seems to fit “suitcase school” better than “commuter school”, since the latter implies that many students go home daily (rather than on weekends) to where they lived before college.

11

Yes, you’re right.

12

I’d go Purdue.

NU in is double the budget, PSU is above and I don’t think transfer into Smeal is that easy. Both Rutgers and Purdue will work but if you want to get out of NJ - then Purdue. I don’t think you’ll spend $7k in travel.

Good luck.

1 Like
13

I agree as I’ve heard that transferring into Smeal (Penn State business school) can be difficult.

14

Don’t know anything about Purdue or Penn State, but how hard is it to get into their business school if you decide it’s what you want to do (or engineering, or any other specialized school)? S25 eliminated a lot of schools where he didn’t get direct admit into his preferred school because a bad weed-out class could potentially mean not getting into your school and having to choose something else. Just look into that and if you’re comfortable with how they handle admissions into majors/schools before you commit to a university.

2 Likes
15

I think the best choice here is Purdue: quant+business, strong entrepreneurship, safe, excellent placement, it sounds like the best fit by far.

That being said, because I’m the “official expert on Penn State for CollegeConfidential”, I’ll hopefully dispell some confusion.
You don’t “transfer” into Smeal. Virtually all students who intend to major in Business start DUS (or at a branch campus)- apocryphal numbers indicate only about 10% or less start as “Smeal premajor”.
But “Smeal premajor” is just a title to brag about because from a concrete point of view, these students have the exact same path as DUS students: they need to pass English, Calculus, Statistics, Macro&Micro economics AND when all is said and done must have 3.2 (or as high as 3.5 for finance) by the end of Spring Sophomore year, using all pre-requisites and gen eds.
If you took&passed the classes listed under “suggested academic plan” for Business + have a 3.2, you’re officially a Smeal major. That’s it, there are no hoops to jump through wrt club participation or interviews or limited spots etc.
Now, what happens if by the end of freshman year you realize there’s no way you’ll have a 3.2?
You can pivot to ETI: Enterprise Technical Integration, which requires a lower GPA than Smeal. More tech than from Smeal but a solid tech&business major.
To make the pivot easier in case you need it, you take English 15/30H, Math 110 (Applied Calculus), Econ 104 (Macroeconomics) or Econ 102 (MicroEcon), World Language3 during Fall semester; Econ 104 (Macroeconomics) or Econ 102 (MicroEcon), IST 110 (People and Tech), Accounting 211, Stats 200, CAS 100 (speech/comm) in the Spring. These classes overlap for both ETI and any Smeal major.
AP Calc1 AB with scores of 4-5 allow you to skip Math 110 but in that case it’s recommended you take the 2-credit applied calc class Math 112.
You could also choose “Energy and Finance”, “Agribusiness”, “Labor&Human Resource”, or “Health systems management” depending on your interests and strengths.

You also mentioned “party school” - well, it’s true that if you want parties you’ll find them, no contest + some students may lack imagination and party because they think that’s what college is about.
If you’re not that student, you’ll find plenty of peers at Penn State: there would be free popular films, free foreign films, outdoors activities, football tailgates, informal intramural sports, weekend arts&crafts, a hundred clubs, concerts, lectures… (That’s why I consider the students who say ‘there’s nothing to do but party’ are just looking for an excuse for being unimaginative - there are plenty of opportunities to do anything beside party.)
That situation BTW will be similar at most flagships.

That being said, I do think Purdue is a better fit because Purdue will definitely be more “quant”. :+1:

If you can, visit :blush:

2 Likes